Helen Mirren has earned an acclaimed and lucrative acting career for herself in the United States of America and her native United Kingdom.

However, the 76-year-old Oscar winner has now revealed that a major ‘epiphany’ inspired her to become a full US citizen – following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.

The ‘The Queen’ actress holds dual US and UK citizenship, becoming a US passport holder in 2017.

“My husband [Taylor Hackford] is American. My stepchildren are obviously American. My nephew lived in America, worked in America,” she told People in a revealing new profile. “So I was definitely an American resident for a very long time.”

The outspoken Lady then recounted that she was in New York during the 9/11 devastation, rehearsing the Broadway play ‘Dance of Death’ with fellow Brit Ian McKellen at the time. Mirren remembered that she actually saw the second tower fall.

After the traumatic event, she said she had an “epiphany”, adding: “I realized where my allegiance, my heart and my intellect lay in this confrontation between extremism, religiosity – all these things and everything that America stands for”.

“And I thought, ‘I’m an American,'” Mirren said. “I have an American flag and I put it outside my window.”

The ‘F9’ star continued: ‘When I understood, which I hadn’t quite grasped before, that I could be a British citizen and an American citizen – because I wouldn’t want to give up my British citizenship — so I thought, ‘That’s great. It’s the perfect world. “

Mirren noted that it was “so emotional” when she finally received her US citizenship. “I didn’t realize what a deep feeling that would be,” she explained. “It sparked feelings of patriotism that I didn’t think I had. I think it had to do with the intrinsic generosity of America.

The L’Oréal spokeswoman will next be seen in the upcoming biopic about former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. “Golda” is set to air later this year and will chronicle his role as prime minister during the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

Mirren discussed the backlash to her casting as a political figure after being called out by fellow actress Maureen Lipman in January.

Lipman argued at the time that a Jewish actress should play the role of Meir. Mirren is not of Jewish descent and discussed criticism with the Daily Mail earlier this month that the issue of ethnicity was raised during casting.

“It was definitely a question I had before accepting the role,” Mirren said, adding that she had spoken with “Golda” director Guy Nattiv about the issue and would be stepping down from the role. movie if necessary.

“I think it’s a discussion that needs to happen – it’s completely legitimate. You know, if someone who’s not Jewish can’t play Jewish, does someone who’s Jewish play someone who’s not Jewish? asked the “Gosford Park” star. “There are a lot of terrible injustices in my profession.”